[smokininkman]

I have just finished working with Stamper19 in the Malware forum, and my system is Malware free, so this problem is not Malware related. Whenever I close down my computer, a box pops up as if a program was still running. THe heading along the top of the box is:
Notification WND for PNSetup Mgr. I am offered the option to "Close Now" or let it close itself. I have had this problem for 5 - 6 m onths. I paid Geek Squad to fix it, and it did dissappear but kept coming back every three weeks. THey worked with me for a while, and kept making it go away. Finally they wanted more money to try again. They obviously don't know what the problem is, so I came to this forum.

I always click on the "end now" button, and the system then shuts down OK. One time I didn't, and the system just froze up. THe problem is more of an annoyance than anything. I don;t know that it is doing any damage, but it IS a Pain in the you know where. Can anyone help me make this GO AWAY.
I know from google searches, that others have had this same problem. Surely by now someone has found a way to stop it.
I am running Windows XP Media Center.

THank You

Alan Berger

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How does it behave if you boot to Safe Mode with Networking? If better then something is starting at boot that is causing the problem. Try the following:

First, physically disconnect from the Internet to prevent a malware infection while your Anti-virus and/or Firewall are disabled in the following steps, then do a normal boot:

Click on Start then Run, type msconfig and press Enter.
Click on the Startup tab and disable everything (I mean everything).
Do a regular boot, see if it runs normal.
If yes then use msconfig to enable several items at a time till you find the culprit.

If no, click on the Services tab. Check the Hide All Microsoft Services box then click the Disable All button.
Again, do a regular boot, see if it runs normal.
If yes then use msconfig to enable services till you find the culprit.

Once you've found the culprit, uninstall it or find out how to eliminate it from your system. Simply disabling it in msconfig is a temporary fix at best.

Reconnect to the Internet when your AV and firewall are active again.

[Ztruker]

How does it behave if you boot to Safe Mode with Networking? If better then something is starting at boot that is causing the problem. Try the following:

First, physically disconnect from the Internet to prevent a malware infection while your Anti-virus and/or Firewall are disabled in the following steps, then do a normal boot:

Click on Start then Run, type msconfig and press Enter.
Click on the Startup tab and disable everything (I mean everything).
Do a regular boot, see if it runs normal.
If yes then use msconfig to enable several items at a time till you find the culprit.

If no, click on the Services tab. Check the Hide All Microsoft Services box then click the Disable All button.
Again, do a regular boot, see if it runs normal.
If yes then use msconfig to enable services till you find the culprit.

Once you've found the culprit, uninstall it or find out how to eliminate it from your system. Simply disabling it in msconfig is a temporary fix at best.

Reconnect to the Internet when your AV and firewall are active again.

[smokininkman]

WHat scares me about your suggestion is if things don;t run normal in either scenario. Then what do I do? Just give me some assurance that I won't freeze up my system and be totally screwed.
Every time I worked with Geek Squad, they did turn off some things in my startup, mostly because they saw too many things were loading that were't needed, and the problem did dissappear, but always returned. THat's why I think the problem is deeper than just turning off things. Has anyone isolated this problem and come up with a specific cause?

Alan

[Ztruker]

No, it won't freeze up your system. All you are doing is temporarily disabling non-Microsoft applications and services to see if you can determine which one is causing your problem.

As for the problem being deeper, that's why my post said:

Once you've found the culprit, uninstall it or find out how to eliminate it from your system. Simply disabling it in msconfig is a temporary fix at best.

[smokininkman]

OK. I feel better. I'll give it a shot and let you know what I find.
Thanks
Alan

[smokininkman]

ZTucker,
OK All done. All worked fine. Turned all off and slowly turned back on. Window with PNSteupMgr never came back. Quite obviously it is not in any of those files. It has just dissappeared like it has before and will probably be gone for a few weeks, but I bet it comes back. I think the problem is much deeper.
I know , when I googled it, I found similar problems in Japan, GErmany, England. Seems like sevgeral people have an opinion as to what and where it is, but no where did I see any final resolution to the problem. No one else mentioned a situation like mine whee it goes away for a while, and then mysteriously comes back.
What next?

Alan

[Ztruker]

Alan, if the problem is not happening now it's pretty tough to do anything about it since there is no way to determine if a specified action has any effect.

I'd suggest keeping an eye on it and post back in this thread immediately when it happens, especially if it repeats as before.

[smokininkman]

You got it, ZTucker. Maybe this time it will stay away. If not, see ya in a few, and thanks again
Alan

[sari]

I just thought I'd add to this - I get the same thing periodically. I've done some Google searches on it that suggest it's popnot.exe, part of Popnot popup stopper. I don't have this installed. I don't have popnot.exe on my computer anywhere. When I get this message, if I cancel out and go to task manager, I can't find any running process related to this. Since I'm on the malware team, I've run some deeper scans that have been unable to find anything related to this either. I actually was just researching this again today, as it happened to me yesterday when I tried to shut down. If I ever figure it out, I'll be sure to let you know - I get it at least every couple of weeks, if not more.

[smokininkman]

Thanks Sari,
When I get it it stays . Yesterday, after disabling everything in startup, and then re-enabling everything it went away. But I know it will be back. GeekSquad couldn;t fix it either, except for making it dissappear for a few weeks at a time. I don;t think it is huring anything, just annoying as heck. I see the problem pops up worldwide also, but no one has seemed to figure it out yet. Maybe you'll have some luck. I appreciate you're keeping me informed.

Alan